Delicate
by Daniele-Marx
Summary: “Baby…” she gasped as one of her hands rested on his over her abdomen. “Save baby…” And with that, she fainted.
1. Default Chapter

"Delicate"  
By  
DanieleMarx

Standard disclaimer applies.  
This story is something to show the sensitive side to Heero. Hopefully it'll have worked.

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

The hospital walls were white; glowing brightly against Relena's flushed face. Her eyes were dull but sane and she recalled the events of the night before for what seemed like the hundredth time. She stared at a single rose next to her on the bed stand next to her hand. She knew who it was from and merely stared at it; it had a not tied to it with a ribbon and she hadn't read it yet. She wasn't really in a hospital because it was Heero who had saved her. The Gundam Pilots had all helped but she knew it was Heero who set everything up. She wasn't told where they were going earlier before they gave her the relaxant drug but she trusted him more than any one person could trust another.

Her family, consisting of Milliardo and his wife, Lucrezia, had found out that she was with child--keyword being 'was'--and now she was alone. They, meaning Milliardo and Lucrezia, had no idea whose baby it had been, but she knew there was only one candidate. A few weeks ago she had been visited by Heero while staying at one of the hotels where she had been conferencing at; he had accompanied her to the meeting and had stayed the night with her.

She had convinced him that her room was too large and too unused for her to remain alone there, so she offered him board for the night. One thing led to another and they were finally at some sort of peace with one another. No one knew about it but some were confused at her rather...chipper mood for the next few days; it was their secret. It became her secret when she found out she was pregnant. No one knew--period. She could remember what she felt when she took the home test and tested positive; she had taken two more just in case she was wrong. All results were positive, and for once, she didn't know what to do.

She had been at her home that she shared with her brother and sister-in-law, reading a book while lounging in a comfortable chair. There were things on her mind and she didn't bother to notice that she was being watched. The sun had set about three hours ago and she had convinced Milliardo and Lucrezia to go out for at least dinner. Relena hadn't noticed the figure approach her from behind until his shadow had fallen on her book page. Her eyes widened and before she could even gasp he had thrown his arm around her neck tightly and pulling her quickly to her feet and turning her to face the foyer.

Milliardo burst through the door and Relena felt the man holding her put a dagger at her abdomen. Her brother raised his revolver, prepared to fire, but the attacker put pressure on the blade, making her gasp and Milliardo hesitate. "Don't move or the little one dies." Milliardo hesitated further and the man smirked before following through with a deep, single slice. Relena cried out; the man released her, and she fell down onto her back, clenching her stomach and eyes shut. Her wound went deep and she cried out silently to no one in general, trying to force her pain away. She heard a gunshot and tears crowded her vision. She saw Milliardo at her side, speaking to her though she couldn't hear him. He had removed his coat and begun pressing it into her wound.

Milliardo looked down at his sister as Lucrezia dropped her smoking revolver and reached the phone. She made the emergency call and Relena was talking incoherently as she looked at her brother. Three muttered words made it past her lips to Milliardo's ears, and he waited impatiently for her. "Baby..." she gasped as one of her hands rested on his over her abdomen. "Save baby..." And with that, she fainted. Milliardo exchanged confused glances with his wife.

"Baby?" he said. Lucrezia heard sirens from a distance.

"She's pregnant?" The shock was apparent on her face. He looked down at his sister's face and reached up to brush a few strands of hair from her face. "How did they know? We didn't even know..." They heard sirens outside the manor and within seconds two men hauling a gurney burst through the door.

"Over here!" Both of the men wore gray uniforms and their faces were shielded by hats that sent a shadow over the majority of their faces. One of them had disheveled brown hair and the other having a rather overstuffed hat. "Someone stabbed her. We don't recognize him." They rushed over to Relena's limp form in which one of them knelt down next to her and checked her pulse and condition. The one with the overstuffed hat looked at the dead man with his face turned away from Milliardo and Lucrezia, and lifted his eyes to identify the man better; two deep blue eyes peered out from under the rim, a familiar air about the grim seriousness he wielded. The two medics lifted her onto the gurney and began to stroll her out of the manor. Milliardo started to follow when he heard Relena mumble something barely audible as she started to cling to one of the hands by her shoulder.

"Heero..." A pause. The man with the stuffed hat looked back at the two, and was recognized while the other paramedic promptly lifted Relena into his arms; he immediately ran out the door of the manor. The other followed closely.

"Duo, what are you doing!" yelled Lucrezia. Neither answered as they bolted towards the ambulance.

"Yuy!" Milliardo was in such a rage that Lucrezia had to hold him back from charging the more and likely stolen ambulance.

The ambulance door shut and Relena was fighting to regain consciousness. "C'mon, Ojousan, stay with us. Heero, she's got a deep cut." Heero had removed Milliardo's coat and began tending to the bleeding wound. Relena's eyes opened slightly as she felt the presence again, and felt Heero apply pressure to a towel on her abdomen; she took a gasping breath in and her hands went to his. His eyes met hers and she tried to say something but the sound never reached her lips; he read her lips in compensation, and hesitated for a long while, which, after awhile, began to make Duo nervous. "What's wrong, Heero?" Duo hadn't been looking at Relena. Heero snapped out of it and shook his head to clear his mind.

"Nothing." Relena looked up at the ambulance light, dazed and hurt. Heero's hand held hers, encouraging her to squeeze it to relieve the tension. She was hurt, and she felt pain, but she didn't clutch onto his hand but for a brief moment. When she was around him she felt calm, and knew he would take care of her. The sting in her stomach was not as painful as she imagined, but it was enough to make her want to cry. Instead, she took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. Heero smiled slightly at her effort to stay strong despite the obvious pain. She would be okay if they stayed together.

"Yo, Trowa, how's everything up there?" Silence. "That good?" Silence again. Heero just stared into Relena's serene gaze and Duo felt a spreading warmth coming from inside him. Even when injured, she managed to remain serene and sedate. Relena breathed in suddenly and they saw her stomach pulse from the shot nerves within. Duo removed the cloth from Relena's wound and reached for another. A small gush of blood seeped out of her abdomen and a clear liquid began to come out. "Damn, it's deep. Can you fix it, Heero."

Duo sounded urgent as Heero turned and grabbed the sterilizing kit. If Trowa didn't get them to headquarters soon they may lose either more blood or her. He pulled on the sterile gloves and grabbed the syringe and the morphine. The van lurched to the right and Relena was pulled to Heero's side. He stopped her from falling onto the floor and glared hard in Trowa's direction. "Trowa, don't drive like a maniac, we've got needles and stuff back here!"

Heero looked oddly at Duo as though he had a broken nose--caused by a door no less. They were capable of setting their own limbs, leaping fearlessly from fifty-story drops, taking a bullet without flinching, and being tossed around and blown up inside a forty-nine foot tall machines which they willingly got into. Why did Duo worry about 'needles and stuff' when there were worse things to consider. Probably for Relena's sake. The last thing she needed was the shock of being prematurely injected with something she wasn't prepared for. He cared for Relena more than anything he was aware of, and seeing her hurt like this...it was unimaginable. As he tapped the needle, sudden realization hit him. Relena was carrying a baby. Yes, he thought, she _was_ carrying a baby. Past tense...

"How is it?" said Trowa. Heero had to look away to talk, confusion setting into his mind. The needle lowered into the tin which was on the table behind him.

"She's calming down and the bleeding is slowly getting worse. She was sliced across the abdomen but she can be saved. We have to hurry." The ambulance made a calm lurch forward as Trowa accelerated.

"However, while the attacker had every intention apparently of killing her, he didn't, which means he had a different priority," said Trowa.

"Why would he not feel motivated to kill her when he had the opportunity?"

"Because it is possible he was targeting something in particular?"

"Who else is Relena capable of hiding unless..." There was a pregnant pause--no pun intended--and silence followed.

"A child." said Trowa. Duo looked over at Heero suspiciously, then to the needle. The man's silence was upsetting. After a moment, Heero cleaned off Relena's arm with a sanitizing swab and then raised the needle.

"They succeeded," said Heero submissively, injecting the morphine into her bloodstream. Relena felt the prick and knew she lost the baby. Heero wouldn't have done it if it weren't true. Her eyes met with his and she felt the loss hit her. The pain in her stomach began to hurt again and she twisted her face from sadness. She was so content and happy being with child and a moment's respite it was torn from her comforting hands and killed by someone whom she didn't know. A complete stranger wanted to destroy her. She should be used to this but she wasn't ready to sacrifice something so innocent as an unborn child...

"What now?" Relena began breathing heavily and she whimpered as she began to convulse in minor waves. Tears escaped her eyes as anguish enveloped her. Suddenly the pain from her wound didn't matter anymore, but she wasn't sure if it was because of the morphine or if she just didn't care. A kind of warmth spread through her and she felt her body; this was the medication. Heero was glad she was calming down, worried that she would stare at him like she just did. Her eyes were now soft and glazed over, and Relena blinked slowly, as if she were ready to sleep. Her eyes closed again, even slower this time, and Duo grabbed her hand and Heero turned away for a moment. "Ojousan, stay awake for us." Her eyes opened slowly, showing her glazed expression. Heero turned back to Relena with a second syringe in hand. He was going to let her sleep because he knew he wouldn't be able to sew her up if he continued to see her eyes like that. "Hold on, Heero! I just told her to stay awake!"

"We can tend to her wounds better if she isn't awake. Relax, Relena..." He raised his free hand to hold hers once again, and she held it lightly in return. She shut her eyes calmly and breathed in tensely. He admired her for being strong enough to handle this. Heero let go of Relena's hand and tapped the syringe. Duo grabbed his wrist forcefully to get his attention.

"I really don't think that's a good idea!" The ambulance gave a sudden lurch, and Heero jerked his hand back. "We need her conscious in this unstable position."

"She'll be okay, Duo. This is a simple procedure which both of us are able to perform. It's a newly tested and approved medicine that hurries the healing process. It will make the wound manageable enough to add the stitches. Trust me." Duo then sighed and dropped his shoulders.

"Fine." The braided pilot sterilized her arm again and Heero sighed silently, injecting Relena with the morphine and watching her strength leave her. She wasn't going to fight him on this.

Relena felt her eyes grow heavy, and let the darkness overcome her.

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

End of Chapter

A/N: I will try to keep this story going until I feel the story is complete. I have a few parts lined up but will have to get them written down just right (they're rough drafts).


	2. Chapter 2

"Delicate: 2"  
By  
DanieleMarx

Standard disclaimer applies.  
This story is something to show the sensitive side to Heero. Hopefully it'll have worked. Thanks for the reviews! Lets see what happens next!

Last night had changed everything. She felt so dead inside, and her stomach churned groggily when she thought of anything. Tears clouded her eyes as she remembered how she had felt to be with child, and how it was torn from her in so little time. No one had known. Someone had watched her, it had to be that. A stranger, someone who was out to hurt her and the one she had protected inside her womb for mere weeks, had entered her home and hurt her. And she did nothing but bleed for him. Instead of protecting herself and her baby, she let someone take it away without fighting, without a struggle. If she hadn't been so full of her thoughts it would've been obvious that there was someone in that room with her.

What hurt her most was the fact that she hadn't told anyone, yet she was so happy to be with child, mind the morning sickness. She had fallen into a kind of maternal trance when by herself. She admired posters with mothers and children on them, gazed at photos of baby furniture when no one was watching—supposed to be, she corrected herself silently. She was content, all too comfortable, with the change.

Her hand went to her bandaged stomach, feeling a throbbing sensation as she applied a little pressure to it. She felt the stitches through the material and with each stroke she made gave her a small itch of pain. Her baby, gone. Killed by some stranger. She didn't need a doctor to know the truth, nor did she need someone to tell her the other bad news she was waiting for. That she couldn't bear a child ever again. She knew it was coming, anticipated the bitter words as they thought them. She knew it was what they were going to say, Heero or Duo or even some stranger for a doctor. Why hadn't anyone come to see her to deliver the horrible news to her yet? She knew they were out there, biding their time. The baby was gone, and she would never be able to have the same comfort, the same warmth that came with nurturing touches and constant realization that there was a little someone resting inside of her womb, waiting and anticipating the real world she knew she—and perhaps Heero as well—could provide.

The pain was getting too hard to bear.

She realized she was still staring at the pink rose, and brought her hand up from her stomach to open, and then read, the note for what seemed like the fifteenth time. The petals were soft from underneath her fingertips, like fine silk, and she picked it up to rest it by her face, then read the note again. _Relena, I love you and I'm sorry. HY._

He still loves me, her mind mused. Like she could forget those words leaving his lips before that night. It mattered not when he uttered them or if he ever would again. Those words had never left her since they were addressed to her. Her heart lightened at the thought of his declaration to her. He still loves me.

The baby was his. There were no others it could have been. First it had been simple: She invited him to stay with her in that large, too large for one person, suite on L3; he hadn't said a word, but didn't move otherwise; she kissed him gently, he kissed back; she led him into her room, he followed; sweet surrender, they made love most of the night. It had been the most intense event of her entire life. And nothing ruined her mood for the next four weeks.

Heero had avoided the confrontational situation, and was assigned elsewhere for a couple of weeks on a private matter by Une. It was her understanding that he hadn't asked for it, but they thought it best to leave it between them. No one knew her secret, though. She needed to be sure, wanted to sort her feelings out about it. When she was planning on telling him was another thing. Noin never asked questions, though Relena knew she had been close to, and would've wanted nothing more than to splay her thoughts out over the table for her sister. Milliardo never made the connection, and Relena was sure that had been Noin's doing. No one ever suspected.

Now everything was different, and she hadn't even seen a single person to tell her the truth. Did no one want to see her in this state? It did hurt to move, but she was not dead, and even though she felt dead inside. She had wanted this baby, _his_ baby. Knowing that Heero had a part in this made her feel so much better. She was sure he had his doubts about everything that had happened, and she had wanted to tell him so much. Her heart ached to tell him everything that had happened. The past four weeks had been bliss, but something was keeping her from telling him. Perhaps the looks of contentment they had shared had something to do with it. All she knew was that she wanted to speak with him now, not then.

What if he didn't believe her? Could she convince him that there had been no one else, that there could never be anyone else? Could he learn to love her, knowing that she didn't fight to save herself? The thought of his cold eyes at this time, staring through her hatefully, made the tears fall harder. When had she started to cry?

The white room was cold and unforgiving, which suited her reflections. There came a sound from across the room, and Relena jumped, hurrying to wipe her tears away. "Relena, I'm coming in." It was Heero. Her heart raced inside her ribcage and she tried to pinpoint the emotion she was feeling. Before she had the time she had taken advantage of earlier to figure this out, it was gone when the door opened, revealing a very calm-looking Heero Yuy. When he shut the door behind him, she knew he was being a bit too calm for her own benefit. "How are you feeling?" Relena blinked very slightly and was thankful for the subtleness in his voice. But she knew she couldn't run from the nagging feeling in her gut.

"I don't know. Better than I was. Who did the surgery?" Heero seemed a little perturbed by her change of the subject, but decided to let it go. He walked toward her and sat down on the hospital bed, resting across from her with an air of tension.

"I started it, Sally finished it. We were lucky you made it to the emergency room." Her hand wanted to reach out for his, but she knew his actions were reluctant. He wanted answers, and right now she needed to provide them, but her words needed to be thought out more carefully. "I was...worried." Okay, she thought. That was forced. If he was thinking about the baby or not, she needed to get it out into the open before they cracked.

"The baby was yours. If you ever had any doubts, please lay them to rest now." Her voice was barely more than a whisper, but they had sunk in. His eyes seemed to soften in understanding and realization as she got the green light to come closer to him. A smile graced her lips as her hand touched his. "As if I could keep from thinking about you with a piece of you inside of me." Her eyes began to redden as her thoughts got the better of her. She made a promise to cry later in order to stop the tears, and her hopes were fulfilled. "Sorry, I'm a little emotional right now. I was hoping no one would find out like this. I was," she tried to arrange her body so she could move to sit up, but Heero's hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Don't move or you'll stretch the stitches." He paused and waited for her to lie back again. She complied reluctantly. "Why didn't you tell anyone?" His hand came up to brush a stray hair to the side of her forehead. He hadn't slept for awhile—since he had intercepted the emergency call the night before. And here he was at three in the afternoon when she finally woke up. Duo hadn't tried to drill him for questions as he thought would happen. Apparently the thought of the physical state Relena was in made Duo reassert himself. Being in love himself he knew what he should and should not pry about. He should've noticed the signs first. The soda crackers, the sickness she claimed was just nerves but he ignored only because he trusted her judgment; they were all a façade he hadn't seen through, and he regretted the action.

"I was afraid of the reaction. You, Milliardo, Lucrezia, I didn't want to keep anyone out. I was..." She dug in deep for the words to describe the feeling, but only found one. "...Scared. I was afraid of the reactions I would get. What if you hadn't wanted the baby or didn't want me because I would tie you down. If Milliardo had found out, he would've tried to kill you I just know, and--" She stopped when Heero's finger touched her lips gently.

"You were afraid I wouldn't love you anymore because you were pregnant?" She was unable to speak. She was afraid he would hate her. She feared his reaction, not anyone else's; that is why she never told him. Why was it clear now and not earlier? He was so close now, his eyes mere inches from hers, and she saw his lips out of the corner of her eye. She was afraid he would become cold to her.

But his eyes were soft. They weren't hateful as she had feared and it was at that point she understood that he was sad because she didn't trust him enough to tell him. Saying nothing was the better choice at this point. He wanted to say something, but was holding back. Why wasn't he saying anything? Was he afraid as well? Did she betray his trust beyond repair? Just the thought of him stepping away from her made her sick to her stomach. "You should've told me, Relena. Telling me should've been your first priority. You let me believe nothing was wrong and I could've been there to protect you." She craved his warmth as his finger came to rest beside her.

"I didn't want to burden you with a life-changing choice. I know you understand this. " Heero sighed. She wouldn't make excuses for him. The truth fell out of her mouth like a second nature; she couldn't lie to him. He deserved the truth from her because she wanted the same in return. It was out in the open now and she craved the pressure to tell the truth; it made her feel honest again. All of the pressure was releasing itself in the only way she knew how, and she was finally seeing clearly. He knew this, too.

He knew she loved to hear the truth, no matter how hurtful or beautiful, because she hated lies. She had lived for so long under the blanket of dishonesty that it had become her umbilicus. There were times, granted, when she wanted to hear the general story and nothing else, and she wouldn't mind a few lies to cover a small story which needed no explanations. So he sighed, and caressed her cheek. He had been worried that the pain would go away, but it wouldn't last forever. She knew what she had done. A few years ago he would've left her in the dark and walked away, but now he knew that would do more damage than necessary.

"Nevertheless you wouldn't have been in that danger if it hadn't been for me."

"...And the guilt trip was another thing that occurred to me. It wasn't something I anticipated, the attack. How did they know, though? No one, not even you knew." The door opened, as if on cue. In walked a dead man, someone who wasn't supposed to live through the Eve Wars. How he ended up entering her room was beyond her, and her voice almost left her.

Doctor J.

"I can answer that one. No use letting Heero have the sole responsibility of telling you the news." Her eye twitched involuntarily, but she remained silent, wary, as the man before her began his explanation. Did it matter how he got here or matter how Heero had come to contact him in a situation like this? Maybe it would later. In the meantime, she let him just be. "First, I must deliver the news concerning your status." Relena stared blankly at the man, waiting for the inevitable news she had been dreading since she had thought of it. Her hand was empty; Heero wasn't used to public displays of affection. She understood, but that didn't mean she wasn't hurt. "The offspring did not survive the attack. As for how they found out, well...did you take any pregnancy tests?"

"I took three."

"There you go--"

"There is no way anybody could have known. I determined the results at work. New trash compactors, remember?" Relena looked at Heero and after a moment, her eyes widened. She brought her hand up to cover her eyes as her face suddenly flushed red. Heero realized what she was thinking and a small blush reached his cheeks. Doctor J seemed surprised at the thought at first, but he smiled rather widely.

"Well, that should tell us how they base their conclusions unless it was obvious by observation alone..." Doctor J began to chuckle. This made Relena's face redden even more. "Interesting. You two must've put on quite a show." When Relena's silence became uncomfortable, Heero sent a glare to his former instructor.

"That's enough."

"I'm surprised that you two would allow your emotions to control your action, especially you, Heero."

"I said that's enough."

"Very well. No mean to pry. Your personal business is your own, but never forget your purpose. This group is too dangerous to take lightly. The Peacecraft family, as you said, needs to be protected from being wiped out. The least you can do is keep your hormones in check until this is taken care of." Heero was almost near seething when Doctor J finished that sentence. Relena's hand rested on his arm, and her grip seemed to keep him in check, to the doctor's surprise. "I will need to speak to you as soon as possible on the matter, Heero." Relena suddenly felt her face pale drastically as the man walked toward the door. She had to speak now or she'd fall apart on the spot.

"Doctor J, I want to know if I can still bear children." Her heart clenched and her grip tightened on Heero's arm. This was so important to her. She wouldn't be able to go another minute without knowing this fact. It was inevitable that he would say no, but she didn't want to go another minute. The man stopped as though trying to delay himself. Perhaps he wanted to make her squirm in her seat; it was working.

"Yes, you are able." Relena stared quietly as if trying to register what he had said. After all the mental games she had played with herself, it was hard to believe that she was still able to bear children. "Though, to bear any children from now on means you would have to be extremely careful during those nine months. One tumble to the ground at any stage could cause a miscarriage." Her brow furrowed. It was still possible to have a child, but there was so much she couldn't bear to happen if they tried again. She nodded in comprehension and swallowed her tears.

"I understand...thank you for telling me, Doctor J."

"Don't thank me just yet. I haven't said anything you could appreciate yet." And with that the man left the room as quietly as he entered. Relena only squeezed Heero's arm harder and watched as he turned toward her. Tears began to stream down her face and he brushed them away without a second thought.

"Will we ever be happy again, Heero?"


	3. Chapter 3

Delicate—3

By

DanieleMarx

Standard disclaimer applies.

This story is something to show **A** sensitive side to Heero. Hopefully it'll have worked. Conversation between Heero and Milliardo will be taking place now.

The room was dim, both men at opposite sides of the rounded horizontal table; their stares were avoidant. There was much to be said for the two, one being the fact that their records were military issued, and the second being they preferred to keep to themselves when around one another. They didn't like each other because neither felt they could win if they fought. Heero sat across from the unusually tense Count, his hand resting on the conference table next to him; their eyes never actually met. Perhaps they were afraid of the truth they would find about the situation. He sat leisurely though, or as leisurely as he deemed fit, in the room with the second most dangerous person in Relena's life, her brother. Strangely enough, her trust was with both of them. Right now, Heero knew what the man across from him would say; he was just hoping he would not say it. The thing he didn't want to hear was for him to stay away from Relena.

"_However carefully you plan, you never know if some fool is going to change the future. So, you may as well do what your heart tells you. So you won't regret it later. That's the right path...for people who live life in the present."_

Heero's thoughts were surrounded with his sense of duty. Perhaps he was not fit to be in Relena's life, but even if he could get away, he wouldn't be able to get her out of his mind. Odin Lowe had always been right. Some fool had changed the future. But the change was what brought them here. Heero, up until this point where the woman of his dreams had gotten hurt, found he didn't want to run from her anymore. She made him want to live.

"Why don't you just say what's on your mind." There, Heero thought. The ball's in his court. Now all he needed was him to tell him what he didn't want to hear.

"What I say and what I think are two different things altogether. Relena is still alive, and that's the important part, so I can trust that what I think is pure concern that a brother should have. The fact is that I wasn't fast enough to stop it." Milliardo sent Heero a look of slight contempt as though a question had been milling over in his mind the entire time. "The question I have for you is simple.

"Did you know ahead of time?"

"Not of the attack. I did know there was a chance of something happening but didn't want to interfere in case they discovered I was watching them." Heero knew he made sense. Not that much of what he said didn't, but logic reasoned well with Zechs. Never mind the fact that neither could reach Relena in time. Duo wanted to assign her a bodyguard right away, despite the fact that they were under strict surveillance orders, but Trowa and Heero ignored him, blamed his nerves for acting up. There was no way they could've guessed she would've been attacked as soon as they did. It was a mistake in judgment; it's true if he had taken them with more open-mindedness they could've stopped it, but their cover would've then been blown. There was no time. Even so, if he had noticed the signs when they did, they would have made it to the scene the exact time as they had originally appeared, and Zechs would have been less than mindful of the decisions made.

"Then we're at a standstill. What do you know, other than the obvious?"

"They're quick to act and judge. They make plans, and then follow through with them as soon as the signs are clear. It could've been a shotgun operation. They saw something to use to their advantage, and flew from the seat of their pants."

"Such as?"

"They only sent one associate. Relena was alone in an empty house. There weren't any guards around, and she was focused on whatever she was doing at the time."

"She was reading." Hearing this caused Heero to think of her proposals, to see if something she was working on was less than agreeable with the enemy. They probably thought they could sway her opinion on something—

A book slid in front of him slowly, as though Zechs was trying to make a subtle point. It was thick, like a bible, and Heero looked at the title on the thick paperback book. His heart stopped for a moment as he allowed his mind to grasp the concept in front of him. He had been trying to hide the fact that he could've been, would've been, a father. The idea of sharing a future with this woman had become so clear that night in the hotel room, but he didn't think it had a real future to determine. A sigh escaped him.

It was a baby name book. He recognized it as an old volume Relena had packed away when she had moved to her current residence. She had told him about it when he asked; her mother, Mrs. Darlian, let her have it before the inter-colony tension had gotten worse. He remembered the way her hand caressed the cover lovingly, how her eyes got soft and wistful. She had opened it and flipped through a few pages, thinking about names she would call her child should she ever become a mother, but after a moment, her eyes reddened and she paused. She shut the book rather roughly and packed it away with the rest of her stuff—the bottom of the pile as he recalled, probably for more emphasis on what she thought her fate was.

She had been reading it when the attacker came by. Regret made its way through his mind again; she had been hurt under the pretense that she was going to be a mother. That much he knew he could count on. Picking up the volume in a moment of weakness, he saw a makeshift bookmark near the middle of the pages. When he opened the book, there was a dried daisy near the binding.

It had been the first time he had seen such a sight. It was probably Mrs. Darlian's flower, but he wouldn't have been surprised if Relena had put it there. Underneath the flower was a folded piece of paper, and all thoughts were wiped from his mind, as well as on his face. As he reached for the piece of paper, he stopped his shaking hand; this was taking too long to accomplish, but he didn't care. The paper reached his hand and he opened it easily with one hand:

**Odette Kaori Yuy**. Melodic. Strong. Only. His thoughts returned to interpret the information. He wiped his hand across his face to shake the disbelief, the realization, of the name. She had taken his name. A little girl. Had she gotten to naming a boy as well? He suddenly felt a surge of emotion from the paper; his eyes began to redden, but no tears clouded his vision. The name brought him joy. It made him sad and angry and horrified. Of his years of death and destruction, he found he had helped create something instead of destroy it. Since this had started, he had not once thought she would become pregnant, and now that last night had happened, he found he couldn't live without the thought.

He imagined he looked damn amusing to Zechs, and found a focal point he could zone in on. The piece of paper was folded again and places within the confines of the book carefully. Shutting the volume, he placed it back onto the table and felt his anger begin to build. The terrorists had targeted Relena. They made her smile disappear, the one that radiated for weeks before the attack, the one that made his heart glow with love. He had concentrated his energy so many times to keep the feeling inside, and found an easy way to recall it whenever he wanted to: He needed her to stay in his life.

Right now, though, he needed to stay in control.

The desperation was taking a good hold of him, but not as fast as anger. It stormed up from behind his care and pushed it aside, charging ahead of the array of emotions. He could feel the urge to get revenge. At this time there was no urge to merely take the group out; he wanted to plant a bullet in between the eyes of the one who attacked her. Either that or one to the neck, where he would suffer before his miserable life ended.

"All right, I'm angry. Now what." Zechs looked gratified by the flurry of emotions he had been displaying. Apparently he had been waiting for this reaction. Perhaps they could come to a mutual agreement on how to settle this. It seemed promising. The man looked equally angry, and he knew there were limitless possibilities which could take place. Heero let a realization dawn on him.

Zechs wanted him to be as angry as possible. Unfortunately, it was working. Whenever it came to Relena's safety and wellbeing, he was willing to do anything to make sure the justice was done. It was a sane human response to protect those you love. This course needed to be taken.

"I won't tell you to stay away from her. It wouldn't keep you two from doing anything without my knowledge and it would make me less than noble in her eyes. I don't want to see her unhappy; I've seen her that way before, and I didn't like it. You can protect her, and seeing her with anyone else who wouldn't be able to match her...personality..." He paused. "No one else can really stand up to her ideals and if they can, they most likely can't understand them." Heero was taken aback by the speech Zechs was making. Why was he getting everything out in the open? Did he plan to make him angry before talking to him about Relena? What would he accomplish by this?

"She would be in good hands if something happened to me." Heero almost looked at him in shock. That's his point? Or was there something else? Was he expecting to die?

"I'm not planning on dying anytime soon...especially if they're prone to shotgun ops. It's sloppy work." Okay, Heero thought. This was becoming a little more to the point. His tone, low and disgusted, was making wheels turn inside Heero's head. He didn't say anything more; he didn't need to. They were lining up on the level between them, calling for a silent agreement to settle their differences right here, right now.

"What do you propose we do about it."

"I was thinking along the lines of making some difficult career choices. Granted, we would probably be joined by many, but secrecy would be key."

"Relena need not be involved, then."

"Correct. No Preventers unless you know them personally." That was the catch. The spin of information Heero needed to hear, yet didn't. Zechs wanted to do just as much damage to this group as he did. He would need to either tell someone or tell no one. He wouldn't, granted, unless he had no other alternative before he made the choice. If he told Duo, and Relena became suspicious, then she would know to go to Duo, because he was able to be manipulated. If he told Trowa, the pilot would go with it beautifully, perfectly, until all was done. He would take it to the grave, but his humanity and willingness for necessity would make him less prone to join. The others were out of the question. Therefore going it alone would be the best. With the knowledge between him and Zechs, the connections, the determination, they could literally conquer civilizations and move mountains. Not that they needed to, but the thought was somewhat comforting.

Not telling Relena, though, was a need. That meant things would have to go on as though nothing happened. Secrets she didn't want to come across would need to be flawless; ones he swore never to cross her path with. He didn't like lying to her, nobody did. If anything got too bad, they both would have their hands full of her politics. Don't get caught. She hated lies. If she had any inkling of him and Zechs working together on even a toothpick log cabin, she would take it bad and put the pieces together. He had a feeling this would get messy if she were to find out anything.

Lying to Relena. Thoughts he guessed would never have entered his mind had graced him with their presence. "Tell me how you feel about lying to her." Why couldn't he say her name?! Relena. **Relena.** He could say it quietly as a prayer, yell it when she was in peril, whisper while he made love to her in that hotel room...

Why couldn't he say her name? Was it so impersonal? Was he trying to make it a secret to himself as well as to her? Was he so sure he still could lie to her?

"I don't want to do it. I feel a brother's instinct not to tell her. To take care of the problem before she suspects anything. Simple. It's easy enough, and I've done it before." So, Zechs was having as hard a time as he. His voice was quiet, strained. Heero had never heard him speak like this before, like a boy who told his friends not to tell about the toilet-papered tree in the neighbor's yard.

Heero could relate. Keeping secrets from Relena wasn't an instinct. It was duty not to tell her some things because of communication moles from the enemy. His decision was made. Would Relena find out? Would she forgive them? Both had possibilities of happening, but they were good at what they did. If they didn't tell her ever and took it to their grave, she would know nothing more than it was taken care of. The rest of the details would need to be figured out as they went, if not before. "Fine.

"I'm in."


	4. Chapter 4

Delicate—4

By

DanieleMarx

Standard disclaimer applies.

This story is something to show A sensitive side to Heero. Hopefully it'll have worked. Duo's observations as he walks from office to anywhere else. He doesn't realize this, and neither would you unless I actually told you.

Sitting in his office on the tenth floor of the Preventer's office section, Duo sat while going over some documents he made up for the boss lady. If he hadn't been there, he would've been at the hospital guarding Relena from attackers. He was tired from doing nothing all day. Well, there were things he had been doing, but there was no physical activity to settle his mind.

When people didn't do anything they did two things: get tired, and get chubby. Right now he was getting tired, and he seriously needed to take a trip to the gym. He felt so useless. At least if he was working out, he could impress the ladies and get his workout done for the day. Yep, the ladies loved his physique, but he was off limits thanks to a beautiful woman named Hilde. But one thing still remained.

He was tired.

He wasn't bored. On the contrary, things had become interesting if not downright weird. Guarding Relena had never been more entertaining. People would come into her room and give her a hug, and then they would avoid the subject of her attack until she bossed it out of them. She was not someone to take lightly when she was irritated. She usually held in her emotions when it came to stress. Her lion stayed in its' cage when she was anything but downright furious. When she was angry, she let you have it.

Yes, Relena Peacecraft was irritated because of the people around her. She didn't like it when people avoided the truth that she was in real danger of dying or not being able to wake up one morning without a baby to feed. Sure she was able to have children as she was told, but she was also in danger of losing it should she have one bad turn during the nine months.

Treat her like a doll, why don't you, he thought. Throw her emotions around until they're unrecognizable and don't let her know you're uncomfortable around hospital scenes and injured people. It's not like she had an amputated leg or anything. She was just attacked and she's completely sane and in her right mind. Her conversations were becoming longer as she settled back into the gist of conversation and nothing could stop her; it seemed as though she had changed her frame of mind overnight.

She had convinced herself that she would never be able to bear the child of her honey and now that she had been reassured otherwise, she was feeling a little less than giddy but better than upset. He, of course, could talk to her about whatever she wanted. She was comfortable around him as a sister would be to a brother, not her brother per say, but some would say they were "romanticizing the brother/sister relationship," making it the model friendship to everyone including themselves.

Guarding her was like taking extra time off for lunch, you really thought you had to be working, but a few more minutes were too good of an offer to miss. They talked about the progress they had been making on getting the terrorists (or, as he called them, just plain "assholes"), and since they hadn't been catching anything really helpful, he basically spent his time talking to her about her thoughts and Hilde.

Thoughts of Heero when he showed up everyday for at least two hours so he could ask her how she was doing ran through his mind. Heero Yuy, talking about the present, was rather boring. What made Relena fall for him was beyond Duo.

The man didn't know how to talk to the ladies.

Heero Yuy did not talk about the future or the past very often. Granted, Duo mused, he probably thought too much about it, but aloud everything was still. Apparently, they didn't do a lot of talking the other day considering her flushed face and slightly heavy breathing when he returned. He was a gentleman for the most part, so he teased them as much as he possibly could.

Then again, Duo went out to lunch when Heero appeared, so most of the things he thought were merely speculation. Personally, there was only one way for a woman's lips to swell like that, and only one way she would get that dreamy look in her eyes, but it definitely could've been something not lusty...yeah right, Duo corrected himself.. Heero looked a bit disoriented afterwards, but most of the time Duo was sure his eyes were just playing games on him.

Anytime where Heero was in a good mood was a good time.

In addition, his friend later on had always become quieter than usual, but not in the manner that he just snogged with his girlfriend kind of way, but more jumpy than anything. He probably shouldn't be like this so early in the game; it seemed he was more regretful of something he had done as he stared at his water bottle and glared at things that were placed out in front of him.

In the surveillance and operation field for this fire, he really shouldn't have been acting this way. He was naturally a very quiet man, very intent, but not anxious. Perhaps he was jumping the gun a little too much since the love of Heero's life had been maliciously attacked with intent to kill. No, Duo thought. It was probably just his way of coping with the incident. He was angry and wanted to do something more than just sit there listening to static; Duo could relate.

In the hallways between shifts, when Heero wasn't taking over for Duo, Zechs often showed up later and suddenly Duo had another lunch break. It wasn't anything too out of the ordinary really. The two glared at each other in the hallways, passing one another without acknowledgment and usually continuing as though merely walking. Usually Duo was exiting the cafeteria sector after a meal to hold him off until dinner, and decided to take that usual route when he began to notice that this meeting was becoming rather interesting. Right away Duo noticed something unusual about their routine pass through the hallway.

After a week of this, Duo had begun noticing more peculiar observances. At first he just let them be and sauntered off because he wasn't needed. Then he saw something as he waited for the two to move on; Zechs' left hand was stagnant while the other swung gently, casually, by his side. His thumb was turned in towards his palm while it swung as it did.

Heero had slipped Zechs a note. No one but him saw it. The signals and flashing lights went off every time he saw it happen, and when he calmed himself down from the sheer intensity of the moment, he began to think of everything he knew about the two and of his training.

If there was one thing Duo knew about living on the streets for the first few years of his life, it was how to pickpocket without letting anyone be the wiser. He decided to mull it over after a few minutes of walking in the opposite direction as Heero and Zechs both. Should he find out what that was supposed to be about? On first instinct, every sign, every voice screamed out a resounding "YES!"; but his logic came shortly after and he opted for waiting instead. If there was anything he knew about the two it was this:

If they were working together for a common goal, say revenge in this case, and no one else was to know about it, did he really, really want to know?

Perhaps he didn't want to know. Who knows, he thought. Maybe I'd be much, much better off not knowing what's going through their heads right now. Heero knows I'm good at what I do; he knows I saw it. Hell, he probably even planned on me knowing! But I'm not biting this time. No way, I'd rather sit by Relena's hospital bed without something on my mind. I'll sit there like a good boy and talk to her as though there's absolutely nothing on my mind...yep, absolutely nothing on my mind...

They were definitely up to no good. Those two setting aside their differences was big, Duo thought. Those two passing off information to one another was even bigger, and those two planning anything under any circumstances without anyone's permission or orders was bad news. Duo almost cried from the unfairness of it all.

"I'm in trouble." Duo talked openly with Relena. She confided in him. She trusted him. She could read anyone and everyone because of her association with the best in the business--politicians and Gundam Pilots. If Relena had a small inkling or notion that Duo knew something troubling, she would squeeze it out of him without needing to raise a finger. Sitting there in bed with nothing better to do than focus all of her energy on one person instead of several documents or politicians, Duo knew his card had come up. He knew he shouldn't tell anyone what he noticed. He knew he shouldn't let anyone think he had some kind of secret. He knew if he walked in to say hello to that woman in the state he was in, he would not hear the end of it, from Relena or Heero.

So wait, he thought. Find out more. Heero and Zechs were professionals themselves. There was a good possibility that they knew he saw them. Perhaps it was a setup. It could've been their way of getting him to choose whether or not he wanted to join them. Duo kicked the wall near him and watched a couple of Preventers send a stare his way. They said nothing, though. He was an elite kind of guy. No one messed with him. Being a special guy, no one messed with him; it got lonely at times, but he knew he had friends he could trust.

"Hey, Duo!" a voice from behind him said. Duo turned only to see Trowa approaching him with a serious tone according to his demeanor. When the Heavyarms pilot reached him, his voice became an uttered ghost of a sound. "I need to talk to you in private."

So, Duo thought. He saw it too. Looking over to scan for anyone suspicious, Duo saw Heero at the end of the hall, staring at him silently before disappearing around the corner. Duo could've sworn the man had been watching their reactions. Great, now he's got us in one spot: the target under our feet. "Sure." His voice was tired as he followed Trowa to one of the lesser traveled hallways, his mind picturing the conversation. When Trowa wanted to speak he usually had something important to say.

The door closed behind Duo as they escaped the hallway to stand in a dark office. "It's just them, isn't it," Trowa said. Duo nodded. "Should we get involved?" Duo stretched on his toes and raised his hands up high as if reaching to touch the high ceiling. When he relaxed, his face was worn and raw with graveness of the situation. Looking out the window to see the city sprawled out as far as the eye could see, he found himself wishing he were somewhere out there with Hilde, drinking coffee as they walked through a park, a store, anywhere but here. Running a hand over his face, he turned his stare to Trowa.

"I'd rather not. Relena would turn to me if she suspected anything going on. This is Heero we're talking about." There was a pause. "I didn't think you'd want to get involved."

"I have issues with this group."

"Care to elaborate?"

"No."

"How about generals?" Trowa stared at Duo blankly, thinking of everything this incident had caused. He had to leave his home to work at the Preventers in order to make everything better, to allow the sleepless nights to disappear for everyone. Relena did her part, Heero too, and now they were suffering. It only seemed right that their strain be lightened with the knowledge that they could depend on his loyalty.

"...I joined the Preventers to keep the peace. They took that away from us. I found I was happier knowing they didn't, and shouldn't exist."

"Then why come to me?"

"They need our loyalty, someone they can depend on. You know they can't do this on their own."

"Aww, I didn't know you cared."

"I don't."

"Like I'm supposed to believe that?" When Trowa glared at him, Duo rolled his eyes. "Man, what's with everyone and glaring?" When his friend refused to answer, Duo sighed and smoothed down his hair. Of all the times in need, he never once refused to help. Call me sentimental, he thought. I never could turn down the help of a friend. "Of course, I'm in. Can't let Heero have all the fun now, can we?" When a ghost of a smile appeared on Trowa's lips, all Duo could hear was the cries of the opposition when they got their punishment. It turned his stomach sickly as he thought of what Trowa was capable of, what Heero and Zechs and the rest of them were capable of. He didn't really want to help make all that happen, but perhaps Heero would let him sit on the sidelines to cover up his tracks. Anything beyond that and Duo knew he would harbor some serious regret.

Sure it would feel good at first, but he would be damned if he saw Relena's face as she said that she thought better of him.


	5. Chapter 5

Delicate—5

By

DanieleMarx

Standard disclaimer applies. This story is something to show A sensitive side to Heero. Hopefully it'll have worked. I have been extremely busy these past few weeks. Condensed version: Maid of Honor; Wisdom teeth will be taken out Monday; festivals; and finals. This installment is a conversation between the three Gundam Pilots involved. We'll get Duo yet.

He burst through the door with a new type of vigor; his adrenaline was pumping through his veins as his hands went to rest on his knees. It had taken so little effort to get him where he was standing, but he knew he needed to be here. He had no real choice but to be here. He was tired once again, but his body carried him the final three flights nonetheless. There was little the guy could do to keep his thoughts straight. Heero had told him there was some information to be relayed concerning the mission, and he needed to get there at seven a.m. exactly. He had a few minutes to spare to tell the truth, but it wouldn't matter to them. He and Trowa were sadistic in that way.

When Duo appeared on the rooftop of Preventers' HQ in a panting state, he was not surprised to see Heero and Trowa glaring at him from the ledge. Again with the glaring, he thought.

"You're late."

"Uh-uh, I'm on time." Fifteen minutes to reach the point where he was. Five god damn minutes to run up fifteen floors only to meet with these ugly mugs. "You guys are here early just to make me look bad. So, why did you call us up here?" He wanted an explanation for getting dragged up the stairs of the last fifteen floors of HQ. The stairs started there because there were no conference rooms up top, nor were there office rooms. These rooms were made for the only purpose of holding prisoners. Apparently going up was tougher to understand for prisoners who where interrogated. It probably made them think they were being questioned in the presence of someone in an office room. They were blindfolded the entire time, so they weren't told any different. There was one entrance; there was one exit throughout the entire section. There was one swerving, chaotic hallway which ran from the top to where the elevator was fifteen floors down. It was humorous to those who walked up and down those stairs only to find an elevator left behind or right in front of you; it makes you wonder if you missed the door.

That is, it's funny if you're not the one doing all of those steps. Duo knew now that there were twelve steps per flight, and two per level, for fifteen levels. Three hundred and sixty steps altogether. He had undergone worse, like basic training at age eight when he was commissioned to become a Gundam Pilot. Fourteen thousand stairs in a week. Unbelievable, but he had some strong legs to make up his speed. He had seen it all, the painful missions he had to overcome, the dislocated shoulders and legs, the broken noses he had to set himself—a broken nose was all he could stand to set alone.

"So, what's the emergency?"

"We've got some information on the organization." Duo began to absorb the information as he had been trained to, not denying himself anything which concerned the operation. Heero leaned back against the ledge, crossing his arms as a front to what he really felt. "They're anarchists; they call themselves simply eighty-six. There's a chance they didn't care for..." Heero paused. He seemed to fight with his emotions about calling Relena by name. Perhaps it was one of the many things they had worked around in the past few weeks. "..Relena's balance of the system. There was nothing else which provoked their actions."

Duo's face was blank. Maybe it was too much, to believe that the world was either on one side or the other: Those who wanted peace and those who despised peace. There was no room for those who didn't take sides, who dwelled on the negative insights and just wished for a little chaos. Hurting those who wished for a little peace and quiet was not right. His eyes were clouded by confusion and a twinge of anger.

"They want disorder? Is that it?" Heero nodded and the braided pilot's face went blank once again. There was no way he could fathom those words. Anyone who had been through a war such as they had would have not understood. He grew up in a hateful world, knew the value of peace just as others who had worked with him. "They entered a person's home and attacked her, unprovoked?"

They attacked Relena Darlian, the symbol of peace in their time of need, without a purpose?

"She's walking around in stitches, nearly bled to death, and lost a child through force because some jerkwad wanted a good laugh?" He was beginning to redden with anger. There were unbidden emotions rising up; so that's where that taste came from: A new type of disgust brought on by a new generation of horrors. "We had to get that creepy Doctor J out of hiding for this? I was better off _not_ knowing where the hell _that_ guy was. And now she's having weekly checkups from the craziest one of the bunch.

"Do I even want to know why he's even here?"

"He's the one who tipped me off in the first place. Then I went to Une. I didn't want him involved, but he found a way to stay inside the loop, and Une was okay with that. He's merely here to stand by and make sure Relena has eyes on her at all times." Heero's explanation made a lot of sense, and it was a lot easier to hear than he was anticipating. He could live with an explanation like that.

"Why Duo, we thought you didn't want to get involved," said Trowa with a smirk. The man was not letting Duo get the better of any situation. They came here to personally corner him for the hell of it. Unfortunately, it was worth it and the need to make a difference was stronger yet.

"They need to be reminded. They don't know how lucky they were to grow up in a world without war in their lives. Playing with lives like they did..." Duo fell silent, and then glanced away for a second before looking at his comrades with such passion which told them how he felt about the situation. He felt angry, horrified, disgusted, and saddened. He had spent much time with the injured woman, learning how she thought. What time they spent talking about everything merely amplified all of those emotions, and the two men before him knew it. "...without a purpose or message. That's just wrong."

That was another trigger for the man. They as Gundam Pilots grew up with a purpose, even if it was to go through with Operation: Meteor. But they had something to drive them, to motivate them into believing in a cause, to sacrifice for something or someone who made an impact on their lives.

"Would you kill one of them?" Trowa and Duo's attention was drawn to Heero, and Duo knew what he wanted to say but what he was going to do was react logically. These people had no idea what it was like to fight for a reason. To kill one of them would mean killing someone who hadn't been right in the head. Doing something like that would have been classified as wrong as well. Killing was not an option.

"No. I couldn't kill an idiot." Trowa glared at Duo, but it wasn't the tough kind of glare he was used to when he said something, if anything, wrong or misleading. It was the empathic glare of a soldier who had seen too much to make the wrong decisions. They all understood what he said. Perhaps they were speaking of this before he appeared on that rooftop. A long moment passed; and then a small connection made itself known to Duo. Pieces of the puzzle began to sort through his mind. It was more of a revelation than a realization, but if it made sense to their cause, why should it matter?

The men who did this were supposed to be anarchists, but they didn't act like anarchists. When they had staked out that night, it was within the first month that Heero and Relena had done the nasty. When they searched for files just before the attack, there were no files prior to that date on L3. She was in the L3 Colony Cluster at the time, but whether that made much of a difference was still to be seen. The thing was that the files weren't dated before then. That meant probably two things: That it hadn't been planned before that night or that it was meant to appear that way.

What were the chances of the first option being right?...

"So, what you're telling me is they had no reason to attack Relena." Heero looked at Trowa, who then promptly nodded. "Does that mean they just happened to stumble upon two people sleeping together, one the Peacecraft Princess and the other a gun-toting Gundam Pilot, on a random night in an untagged suite?"

"Looks like we've got a mastermind on our hands," said Trowa. "Perhaps someone with a higher motive than the anarchists is guiding them, pointing them in the direction."

"Either that or they aren't anarchists at all." Heero seemed less than enthused of the notion that they were merely innocent puppets controlled by a higher power. He wanted to believe that the person who attacked the woman in his life had a purpose of some kind, because he had never encountered such a person.

Imbeciles, they thought at once.

"And we're sure there are no such terms as random and anarchy in the leader's eyes?"

"Only to those who have no clue as to what's going on. If anything, the leader is organized and prepared to sacrifice the lives of others in order to accomplish a mission he had mapped out previously. We've seen this before."

"Yeah." Pawns on a battlefield, that's what those men were who made the attack possible. The man in charge was just another Dekim or Colonel Une pre-enlightenment style. Sacrificing the lives of others was just as bad as attacking someone for no other purpose but to kill. The disgust on Trowa's face reflected as they thought of the damage they could do.

"So, take out the mastermind and there'll be chaos among the ranks. Is the security lax?"

"Yeah."

"And we're sure it's an anarchist group?"

"All accept the leader and whoever is taking the precautions to make it look like one. We'll need a hostage higher up in the ranks who knows the plan behind the leader."

"Then what were we waiting for?"

"You to be ready to join us." Duo froze at Trowa's words. The information stuck to his brain like gum to his ribs. Of course they made fun of him for being late and told him to meet them up here, up fifteen freaking flights of stairs, up three hundred and sixty steps in order to talk to him. Damn them and their tactics. Put him off guard by an early morning workout and tempt his anger. "You didn't think staying on the sidelines would make you feel better, did you?"

"Staying out of trouble would've been the logical choice. You and Zechs only want to capture one of them?" Duo turned to see that Trowa too was curious as to what the plan was, and he turned his stare to the stern man.

"At first. Then we go to work on them. We make sure that they will never again feel the urge to cause pain without purpose, especially when the pain is directed to those who don't deserve it." His voice was tainted with a silent rage that begged to be released. Relena wouldn't need to have her heart burdened anymore by such senselessness in men. They were no older than teenagers, and even they knew that she was more important than anything they ever imagined. They wanted their peace back, their minds free of such duty for even just a couple of hours so they could sleep at night. She could provide the peace they wanted; she was the proverbial security blanket they hid under when things got too rough. And they knew she needed them just as much as they needed her.

They couldn't let her down.

"I..." Duo muttered. "...am such a sap for evening the score. When do we begin?" Heero glanced at his watch, taking little time in gathering his thoughts before looking at Duo again.

"Five minutes ago. A little after you showed up. It took a bit longer to explain the details of the mission, but the generals were over within twenty seconds. You, however, caved at thirty seconds." There was a little disappointment in the man's voice, and Duo quirked an eyebrow.

"Didn't hold out as long as expected, did I?"

"Longer."

"Oh ye of little or no faith. Liars, the both of you." When Trowa and Heero let a ghost of a smile cross their features, Duo knew it was the reaction he had been looking for. Those two were definitely loosening up. "You know, your attitude has changed. Whatever you do, don't lose her." Heero's face became serious as Duo said this, and he looked away in silent agreement. Duo let a smirk cross his face in amusement. "We like you better when we know you've gotten some. Keep up the good work. You're obviously doing something right."

A muffled sound came from Trowa's direction that sounded like choked laughter and Heero glared at the two abruptly; his face began to redden ever so slightly. But he took it, and Duo chuckled. "Make us proud, buddy boy. We'll need some good news around here after this."


End file.
